52 accused in two cases

Fifty-two people were accused in the 2004 Chittagong 10-truck arms haul case. Fifty people were charged in one of the cases filed under the Arms Act – and 52 people in the second case, filed under the Special Powers Act for smuggling of arms. Fifty of them are accused in both cases. Eleven of the 50 accused, against whom charges were pressed on the supplementary chargesheet submitted after further probing on the smuggling case, have been arrested and are in jail. 29 of them are out on bail while 12 others are on the run. On the other hand, 10 of the 50 accused in the arms case have been nabbed and are behind bars while 28 others are out on bail. Twelve others are absconding. Police had seized 10 trucks of weapons and ammunition from the state-owned Chittagong Urea Fertiliser Ltd (CUFL) jetty in Chittagong while being offloaded from trawlers on the early hours of April 2, 2004. Around 1,500 boxes containing submachine guns, AK-47 assault rifles, submachine carbines, Chinese pistols, rocket shells and launchers, hand grenades and bullets were seized. Later that day, Karnaphuli Police Station’s (at that time) OC Ahadur Rahman filed the two separate cases. According to the charge-sheet, the accused are smugglers Hafizur Rahman, Deen Mohammad, trawler hire Haji Md Abdus Sobhan, Sanwar Hossain Chowdhury, Dildar Hossain Chowdhury, Mariam Begum, Jasim Uddin, Abdul Aziz, Md Aktar, Md Jahangir, Nurul Absar alias Absar Member, labour contractor Arju Mia, Ejahar Mia, Mojibur Rahman Bhulu, Sheikh Mohammad, Fazal Ahmed Chowdhury, Md Akbar Ali, Badsha Mia, Osman Mistri, Abdul Mannan, Kabir Ahmed, Md Rafiq, Monir Ahmed, Abdul Khalek, Monjurul Alam, Prodip Kumar Das, Nur Nobi, Babul Mia, Saleh Johur, Abdur Rahim Majhi, Md Shahjahan, Abdus Sobhan, Abdus Sabur, Shah Alam, Sirajul Islam,, Helal Uddin, Firoz Ahmed, Saifuddin and Kamal Mia. These people were directly involved with bringing in the weapons and off loading it. But a number of intelligence officials have also been accused on connivance. They are – former National Security Intelligence (NSI) field officer Akbar Hossain, former NSI Director (Security) Wing Commander (retd) Shahabuddin, former NSI Director General Brigadier General (retd) Abdur Rahim, former NSI chief Major General (retd) Rezakul Haider Chowdhury, former NSI Deputy Director (Technical) Major (retd) Liakat Hossain, former Managing Director of CUFL Mohsin Uddin Talukder and General Manager (administration) KM Enamul Haq. Top politicians accused in the case are former State Minister for Home Lutfuzzaman Babar, and Jamaat-e-Islami chief and former Industries Minister Matiur Rahman Nizami. Former Industries Secretary Nurul Amin is among those accused – as is Abul Hossain and Safiqur Rahman. One of the prime accused is ULFA’s military wing chief Paresh Barua, who is absconding. Eleven of them who are already in jail in both cases are Nizami, Babar, Rezakul, Abdur Rahim, Shahabuddin, Liakat, Akbar Hossain Khan, Mohsin, Enamul, Hafizur Rahman and Deen Mohammad. Twelve of the accused who are absconding are Nurul Amin, Paresh Barua, Md Sirajul Islam, Helal Uddin, Abdur Rahim Majhi, Md Shahjahan, Md Sabur, Shah Alam, Haji Sobhan, Prodip Kumar Das, Nur Nobi and Babul Mia. Howeve, four people who were accused in the first chargesheet – Munir Ahmed, Yakub Ali, Ataur Rahman and Abul Kashem Modhu – have died and later their names were taken out on the charge-sheet submitted after further investigation, according to bdnews24.com.